A blog about weather, climate, and science. Occasionally, we'll post on other topics of interest.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Global Warming Responsible for These Tornadoes?

Sigh. It has come up again: global warming blamed for the recent tornadoes. To answer this question, here is a chart comparing world temperatures to record tornadoes (worse than what we have seen recently):

Mike Smith Enterprises chart by Karen Ryno. Click to enlarge.

As you can see, exceptional tornadoes have occurred with temperatures cooler than today's. Note: When researching my book, Warnings, I learned that before the 1950's, African Americans killed the South in natural disasters were not counted in the statistics.

The reason for so many tornado deaths this year is because, by coincidence, the tornadoes have struck densely populated areas.